She's Here

 And she's gorgeous.

Her feet tell the family story...long, narrow, with toes that will pick dimes up off the bottom of swimming pools.

And this photo of her momma shows more family history.

This one has no idea how her world is changing!

But then...she will have to slow down just a bit for anything to catch up with her...

She shares her mommas curls, if not the hair color.

I must have been very good this year to have such a Christmas gift.

Finished!

So what have I shown and what haven’t I?  I don’t know, and will have to check, but in any case, I have been knitting a mess ‘o Christmas gifts.  I have been torn about showing the FOs, however, and have decided of late, what the heck!

So here they are…

Hand knit socks…

Neckwarmers…

Sweaters to keep little girls warm (one from Grandmama’s handspun.  Do you think she will notice?)

There is yet one more still on the needles as of this writing...

Also, some spun up fiber…

Many colored merino, all spun up randomly (worsted 2-ply)

BFL (fluffy singles)

My most recent navajo plying practice efforts

I recently found and acquired through Ravelry four wool batts (cheviot/suffolk).  The flock’s owner had the fleece processed to be used as quilt batts, but the seller was offering them on Ravelry to spinners, for which they could be used, and quite nicely.  I bought the lot of 4 (2 regular, and 2 crib) thinking I would use some for quilting at least, and maybe some for spinning, not having spun cheviot or suffolk.  Well, I think, after having seen, touched, and experienced them?  These babies will make some yummy quilts and throws.  They are very nice wool, indeed.

I am looking towards some sewing and quilting in the New Year.  2 grandbebes need their quilts finished, and these batts are crying out for some attention, as well.

Changing It Up

This Christmas:

I didn’t write a letter to go with our cards.

I didn’t hang my Star Trek ornaments.

I didn’t set out my Bear’s nativity.

I didn’t hang stockings, nor did I buy stocking stuffers for The Offspring.

I also have not put the cheapo mass produce holiday quilt and shams on our bed for the season.

Some I didn’t get around to doing.  Some seemed to be less than convenient.  Some seemed to be a thing of the past. Some do not seem warm enough.

Things evolve.

Random Firings

-Okay.  I felt soap.  Not soup.  Even after that was pointed out, it took me a while to see the difference between the words.  My brain sees those two words very much the same. I don't know why.  I have never washed with soup.  I don't recall eating soap...

-Apollo is not my first kitty boy.  Joe, the little black ‘scaredy-cat hobo kitty’ that came to live with us in Kentucky was a kitty boy. Also my first kitty ever, that I was given on my 9^th (8th?) birthday, in Greensburg, Sugarboy, was a kitty boy.

-I shared at my last spinning class the comment about making my yarn from scratch, and my class peeps wanted to know if my sister knitted…like that would perhaps explain her Philistine attitude.

-Eight Seven Six days out from Christmas has me within one project of being knitted complete.  Will I get that finished? I do not know, but it will be done shortly after the holidays for sure.

-Meanwhile, I have been spinning.  I use the reasoning that I am avoiding repetitive stress injury.

-While I am looking forward to the holiday, I am looking more to the solstice and the turning point for the days to get longer.  It has been very difficult for me this year to have it dark at 5PM, blooming holiday cacti or no.

-I am contemplating goals for next year.  I am thinking maybe just making a list of those I didn’t meet this year, but that might be boring. (Suggestions? Knowing that I do not feel obligated to take any offered…)

-One might be getting back to regular posting...

Almost EOY

And time for assessing how I did with my goals.  After giving them the old look-over, I am feeling pretty good.  So good, in fact, I am sort of kind of maybe a little excited about thinking what I might put on 'next years list of things I might set my mind to doing'.

• Finish Grandbebe Bean’s quilt, for one. (last qtr-Pending. Still.) (last qtr-Stitches have been made, so progress.) (Well…there it sits…) But I am getting the stitchin’ bug…
• Knit sweaters (in particular Feb Lady Sweater and EZ’s Green Sweater. (last qtr- Check, and 2 others on the needles. That’s right. Another FLS, and Peasy!) (last qtr-Another FLS and a Sunkist cardi (Sunkist from handdyed handspun) are completed, along with a Sweet Peasy. Finessing this goal now to pullovers…) (I have plans for 2 Feb Baby Sweaters for Christmas, but no pullover plans in the immediate queue.) One FBS is done, and the second is in progress. ( EZ’s Green Sweater is shelved until Schoolhouse Press does downloadable patterns.)
• Knit more socks (2 3 4 pair). (last qtr-2 adult and a couple for the bebes, but I am only counting the two adult pairs.) (last qtr- 2 more adult pair finished) (2 and ½ pair complete, and at least 3 pair planned for Christmas knitting.) Finished the ½ pair, and 3 other pair for Christmas.  One more to go.
• Go to Philly (week penciled in). Done! Spectacularly!!
• Go to Yellowstone (reservations made). (last qtr -Lists are drawn up! Packing is happening! Days are being counted!) (Oh. My. Stars! What a time was had by all! Where can we go next???)
• Take a photography class (scheduled). (last qtr-Done! Still practicing.) (last qtr-And still practicing.) (And still…) Ongoing…
• Learn to dye? (maybe) (last qtr-Actually. Yeah.) (last qtr - Bought lots of Easter Egg dye on sale…) (Dyed some ‘batches’ in the old blue enamel canning pot.) I am counting this as good.
• Commute by bike (starting in May) at least 600 miles. (last qtr-One month out from starting!) (last qtr - 220 miles.) (New bike and 600+ miles.) Made it.
• Hike 40 miles. (last qtr- Hmmm…probably 6 so far?) (Maybe 28 so far.) 70%
• Snowshoe. (last qtr-Uh. Didn’t happen this year.) But maybe this winter…
• Brush off the soap making skilz. (Last qtr - Fresh research. Inventory of supplies. Progress…) (If I don’t make some soon, there won’t be any for Christmas.) Used up stockpiled melt’n pour for felted soups, and that is progress.

Of course, with a few exceptions, some of these will just be continued, or even upgraded, but golly, what can I add to learn new! Or maybe, what skills to revive?  Or rather, what old lessons need to be dusted off?

Hmmm....I'm thinking.

Time Flies.

Well, how did ten days go by so quickly?  I have played bunko with the ladies of the ‘hood (and brought home some loot), made it to Boulder and back for the last of the spinning classes (where I spun from a ‘silk cap’…oh my!), and attended the weavers/spinners guild meeting (where I signed up for some workshops in the new year!).

I have worked on finishing up holiday shopping, decorated the house (which required buying lights at the last minute which is crazy but now we are all LED lit and green and it’s all good), and the tree and decorations do not seem to hold mysterious appeal to the newest addition to the family.

White enamel seems to be most attractive to Apollo.  He has settled in very well and it has been a great experience to add him to our household.  The only issue has been his need to sit on my lap in the evenings when I am use to knitting.  Often it is…inconvenient, but we are managing workarounds.  By which I mean I work around the cat…

The holiday cactus has been in full splendor, waffling between being a Thanksgiving or a Christmas cactus.  I don’t care.  When it is dark at 5:09 PM (!), I need some hot pink at my dinner table to keep me believing it’s not time for bed.

And the gift knitting proceeds apace.  The vote is still out as to whether all goals will be met, but I believe that most will be, and certainly 95% of all originally planned articles.  Time will tell…it’s hard not to spin…I have so many new skills that I want to practice, you know.

Spinning

So about the spinning class with Maggie Casey at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in Boulder. (that has required me to drive an hour and 10 minutes each way, in the dark, not getting home until almost 11!) (which is really HAAAA-AAAR-RRRD for me!!!)

Maggie has given us homework!  Honest.

Also, the class is almost over. And that makes me really sad, because it has been all sorts of splendid and terrific and excellent.  And I have learned lots and lots and lots.  And I would like for it to go on forever.

Except for the driving….four hours, uphill both ways, barefoot, in the snow…

Skills have been honed and reinforced and reviewed.  I really really think I know the difference AND how to spin woollen (more fun and fluffier) and worsted (harder, but prettier).  For today.  Maybe not for today.  I got it mixed up and had to correct myself while typing that!

I spun fat fluffy yarn – on purpose.  When one starts spinning, it tends to be all thick with the occasional overtwisted skinny place.  With more experience and control, one is able to spin nice, and mostly even, skinny plies.  One takes photos of plies with coins and pencils for reference to show the thinness of the plies. But alas! When one wants to spin some fluffy stuff again, the fluffy mojo is seemingly lost.

Not so for me, not anymore.

We practiced Navajo (chain) plying.  I have all the right moves, although sometimes my moves get a bit confused as to the order in which they should be performed…

New things have been learned.  Maggie showed us how to use scary wool combs, and that made for some sweet fiber with which to spin.  But those things are seriously dangerous, too.

And while we talked all around twists per inch and bumps per inch and wraps per inch, the rubber met the road with the homework, when she assigned to us the task of bringing back to class samples of 6, 14, and 24 wraps per inch. (Failed to produce the 6! Got 26, down to 20, then down to 16 then down to 14…) Next assignment was to bring samples with 3, 6, and 10 bumps per inch. (Success, but at the cost of consistency!)

The classes are two and a half hours long, and the time just flies by. Only one class left, this week.

But on the upside? Maggie is teaching an upcoming workshop at the weavers/spinners guild this spring.

Something to look forward to, then.

Actual Conversation

(between myself and Wonderful Guy, while eating sandwich and watching passers-by walking past the sub shop window in Old Town, this past Saturday.  Temp, 38F or ~3C)

Me: These temps sure bring the knitwear out.

WG: (laughing) I don’t think that is something most people would say.

(few minutes later)

WG: You know, if I were to make a list of things I was looking for in a partner, of all the things I would put on that list, I don’t think knitting would be on it.

Me: I did have a list like that and a guy that rode a motorcycle wasn’t part of my list. But I think of it as a wonderful bonus that brings with it much for me to enjoy. (Snappy repartee is my specialty!)

WG: (smiling) Are you comparing riding a motorcycle to knitting…because one is a...craft and the other is my passion!  I’ve been riding since I was in grade school.

Me: And I learned to knit when I was seven and have been sewing, quilting, knitting, or otherwise CREATING since. So yeah…my passion…and yeah…comparing!

Silly man…

The Holidays

They are upon me.

I have many gifts knitted, and am working tirelessly on more.

This weekend will bring three of five offspring to dinner on the Big Day. Turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie…all the trimmings are the order of the day.

It does portend to be a cold day from the forecast.  No after meal stroll in shirt sleeves this year…

There is the Holiday Lights parade in Estes on Friday, and I try to decorate for the Christmas holiday over this weekend, too.  So…more busy.

Grandbebe Next is still percolating, and scheduled arrival is the end of December.  My plan is to travel to the great state of Utah (yoohoo!  Kate and ~Wunx, if you are reading…) meeting Dearest Sister there for her grand entrance.  How exciting!  Four grandbebe girls.  How did I get so lucky?

I have much to be thankful this season, and am not going to presume to list.  I believe to live where I live, to have the education I have, and the opportunities that surround me wherever I turn bless me in ways that 90% of this earth’s population may never see.

I am grateful for all that I can be grateful for, and know that there is much that I take for granted.

Blog Stats and Commenting

So I have been in a bit of a morass of ‘whatever…’ lately when it comes to certain things.  And in some cases, it’s been very freeing, and in others, a bit guilt-laden.

I seem to have broken free of the need to check my blog stats on a daily basis, or even every few days.  Of, course, when one is not posting every day, it is not necessary, but besides that fact....I check my stats quite infrequently now, and I am not sure why or what the difference is.  It isn’t really like I ever gauged my success (hoo haah!  I use that term quite loosely!) as bloggy person based on my stats.

Fortunately, because I would not be marked as a success! But I did get a glimpse as to where my readers…and I do have a few…came from.  Which was sort of…you know…bonding…at least from this end.

Anyway, that just sort of fell away a few months ago.  Along with my commenting on other blogs.

Have you noticed?  I am blaming it on the season.  Or something.  It’s not that I am not reading your posts, my peeps.  And it is not that I am not finding your escapades interesting, your efforts amazing, your photographs evocative, your insights astounding.

I just do not have the wherewithal to say boo once I get home from work.  So there’s my mea culpa.  (And I have no idea if that is the correct use of that term.)

So here’s hoping you are all bearing with me.  I hope to have the time with the energy to get some things updated on the blog here in a few.  Dearest Sister was good enough to point out there was no photo of the Boy Kitty.  (She’s kind that way.)  And that book?  I have read two or three since.  And that header?  Aspen leaves are looo-oon-ng gone around here.

I am approaching my blog-iversary come the first of the year.  I began January 1, 2008, so 3 years later, I can say I am mostly still doing this reasonably and regularly, and I am still mostly pleased with the effort.  And I shall celebrate the occasion with a give-away, so consider yourself forewarned.

Random Firings

So here’s the scoop…

I have had a blog post written and waiting for photos of finished pieces for about four days.

I now have taken the photos, but they remain unedited.

Therefore, I submit some meanderings instead of a well thought through and illustrated missive.

Spinning class started last week and the only event of the commute was a stunning sunset.  Today it is snowing.  Right now, I think the class is worth it.  Ask me at 10PM tonight on my way home…in the cold…and dark…by my lonesome…

Handsome Kitty Boy is settling in ever so well.  He does so want to friends with all.  He is rambunctious, however, and that leads Best Dog Ever to believe he sometimes needs to be rousted out of the room.  And The Cat Who Still Is Queen is still making sure the pecking order is understood. I have not had to fight a kitty for my yarn for many many years.  There is a learning curve for everyone.

I recently found out that the CSU mascot, CAM the ram, is not a big horn sheep but a Rambouillet.  Which, in my mind, begs the question, who gets his fleece when he is sheared?

This morning I unloaded my refrigerator in preparation for the delivery of a new one.  Last night I thought surely that 2 coolers and a couple of Styrofoam containers would do the trick.  While I was filling the third container, I thought of the square footage of the refrigerator and looked again at my coolers.  The complexities of the math were not beyond me, but fortunately (see Spinning and snowing) it is a chilly day, and the back patio will keep what doesn’t fit in a cooler nicely cold.

Now that our unusually long and warm fall has come crashing to a close, I am so glad that I put ‘knitting socks’ on my list of goals for the year.  My toes have stayed toasty in their hand knit goodness.

Stay tuned.  I have been knitting, carding wool, and spinning.  And there might be photos.

Or I might spend the next few days staring at my new fridge.

Another Oklahoma Thing

There is an event, both Fall and Spring in Oklahoma City called ‘An Affair of the Heart’.  It is one big old craft/antique/got all the sparkly/cutie pie stuff you ever hope to find event that takes up five (5!) buildings at the Fairgrounds.

Yep.  It’s quite an Event.

This was the second time we had the chance to see what there was to see, and really, we did manage to find a few things to store away in the ‘Christmas Closet’.  There was a lot that we passed by, but almost without fail, my SIL and I gravitated towards the booths with antiques.

When my MIL had decided it was time for sitting a spell, and Wonderful Guy had gone to fetch the car for us, SIL and I dashed into ‘one last building’ for ‘just few more booths’.

  And there I found this.

A quilt backed with flour sacks.

Pieces….pieced.

Really fun patterns.

I had to leave it with SIL along with the postage to ship it to me.  We flew and had packed to the max for the weekend.  It will be a special treat when it arrives, all delayed gratification, and all.

Spinning (and A Small World) (But Not Really..)

25 % of my drives so far to Boulder for spinning with Maggie Casey have been uneventful except for a gorgeous sunset.

My first class was Thursday night, and I got home late, after getting home late the night before after playing bunko.  My life is a swirl of activity, I swear!

My bunko-mates have spoken to me about the possibility of becoming a regular regular as opposed to a regular sub.  That comes with the responsibilities of possibly hosting! I don’t know…I might just prefer remaining a temp…all the fun but none of the work.

So back to the spinning class.  Oh, it’s serious, all right. Maggie gave us homework.  That’s exactly how serious.

A couple days ago I read this blog post by the Yarn Harlot, about her time at SOAR (Spin-Off’s Autumn Retreat), and about how enchanting was Margaret Stove.  I long to go to SOAR one day, but I think I would be so intimidated by those I read about attending, I would probably not be able to spin a lick, and would be looked upon as a rank amateur. Which, of course, I might be.

Back to Margaret Stove.  She has a wonderful new book, Wrapped In Lace, and following the Yarn Harlot’s post, Spin-Off put out another SOAR update, and the fact that the Interweave folks had ‘whisked’ her off from SOAR’s location in Wisconsin to Loveland for, filming a DVD to go with her book.  Knitting Daily had a wonderful story from her, too, this past week.

It always gives me a buzz to think of such heady folk so close by to where I live and work and breath. And once again, I digress.

I was the first to arrive last night, and as Maggie finished her preparations, and I got myself situated, she asked me if I knit lace.  I replied that I liked to think I knit lace, and related my recent three attempts at the Swallowtail shawl before cashing it in and putting it aside for Christmas knitting.

And she told me about Margaret Stove, who she was with at SOAR the past week, and has a wonderful new book on lace knitting.  Maggie said she discovered that Margaret was supposed to stay in a hotel while in our area, but Maggie picked her up from the airport and that she stayed with her.  And that’s she’s just a delightful person.  And also Margaret gave Maggie some 16 micron count merino…which is really fine stuff for those readers (and I know I am assuming here) who don’t know fibery stuff.

Then Maggie taught me spinning.

In my mind…somehow…I see a connection…tenuous….like a fiber…of 16 micron merino perhaps…

The bottom line is this.  I am very privileged to have the opportunity to learn spinning from Maggie Casey.

Now I am off to do my homework.

King Tut, Andre’s, and Grown-Up Time

Twice in one month I have eaten at Andre’s in Denver.  What a treat for me!  The occasion for this last opportunity was the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.

After hearing the exhibit was going to be in Denver, I determined to go.  In my life, many of these kinds of opportunities have presented themselves nearby to where I lived, and I have let circumstances persuade me from taking advantage.

Not so much now.  I try to seize the day when I can, and see what I can see, sometimes to The Guy’s chagrin.  BodyWorld, Titanic, if they come to town, I am likely to follow the hordes.  As a matter of fact, we saw those, too….the Mongol Hordes…  Anyway, the Guy was going to let me go with Youngest, until SonInLaw said he wouldn’t mind seeing the gold.  Not to be outdone, The Guy chose to come along.

And therefore the menfolk endured Andre’s with us wimmin.  Because.  If we are Denvering during the day, we are goin’ to Andre’s.  Just how it is with us.  I say endured because one is served ‘European portions’ there.  Suffice it to say after the museum, we stopped for a snack on the way home.  But still.  Youngest and I surely did enjoy ourselves there, and established that the last time we ate together at Andre’s was with ‘everyone’ back in KC.

Tut was interesting, and the crowds not overwhelming.  None of us had been to the Denver Art Museum before and it might be worth a trip back.  So good.

An afternoon with offspring and spouse?  Absolutely delightful.  I am fortunate indeed to have the relationships I have with my kids (all five!) and their various and sundry significant others.

Some Things HAVE To Be Mentioned

So we traveled to Oklahoma for an extended weekend visit with my MIL and SIL.

As previously mentioned, Wonderful Guy’s sister works at the local animal shelter (as one of her two jobs).  It is a job that she is well-suited for, and for which I admire her.  Our visits always include a trip to the shelter to see the current residents, and some of her stories amaze me.  While my heart would be broken, hers fills up for these furry guys.  I leave there amazed at her capabilities and effectiveness at the job she does.

Also, I leave trying to figure out how I can get some of those kitties home with me.

And this time?  While I am usually passing over the dogs pretty quickly, this time one struck me pretty good.  I kept thinking about this guy, and talking to the Guy about how ‘we could manage’.

Except we really couldn’t.  But Montana sure did get into my head.  And frankly, is still there.

85%  Timberwolf/dog mix

Five Orange Felines

Posing Puppies

Friendly Ferrets

Whatcha’ doin’ with that camera??

The shelter is not the only local happening place.  There is also the  Toy and Action Figure Museum.

Oh, yes there is!  Thousands upon thousands of larger and smaller toys and posable action figures, in various scenarios, displays cases, and dioramas.  It was truly…interesting.

Also, it made me want to watch Star Wars and Lord of the Rings again.

Please To Meet...

the newest additon.

(No no no...  Grandbebe Next hasn't made her appearance yet.)

We took advantage of the local animal shelters offer to waive the adoption fee for adults cats through the end of the month.

After the trip to Oklahoma, which always brings with it a trip to the shelter where my SIL works, I think I was softened up.  I suggested to Wonderful Guy that 'we just go see'.

(Yeah, right.)

And there was the Kitty Boy. With no claws.  After meeting him and spending some time with him...well, it seemed the thing to do.  He needed to come home with someone, and there we were.

He's adjusting to Best Dog Ever and The Cat Who Is Still Queen (and a bit bent out of shape, I must say), but we are working on making sure everyone knows their worth and their place in the feeder people's hearts.

She is not amused...

He has found a place under a bed to hang out where he thinks he safe.  I am scooping additional stuff from the litter box, so that is good.  I don't know about eating.  It's hard to say with other critters grazing, you know, but he's a big guy, and isn't going to starve to death right away.

He likes catnip, and he is playful, too.  It's fun having a playful one around again.

Pumpkin and Piccalilli

While my ham and beans are complete with some chopped onions (apparently DSis and my upbringing diverge when it comes to onions…), Wonderful Guy’s memories include something called piccalilli on the ham and beans of his youth.

Piccalilli that his grandmother canned…

Hmmm…that’s a tough an act to follow.

Of course there's not a 'historical' recipe, so I searched the internet and found about a million ‘Grandma’s best-ever old-fashioned piccalilli recipe’ or various derivations thereof.  There seemed to be a couple running variations, and I chose with the following criteria:

• I should have most, if not all, the seasonings/spices on hand (or be able to make do).
• It should not required sitting in a stone crock with brine overnight (I have a stone crock, but it's sort of old, being an antique..).

Armed with two likely recipes, I headed to the farmer’s market and picked up the onions and peppers required.  Then I headed to the basement to assess my canning supplies.

I have canned plenty in the distant past.  I put up a lot of veggies when the girls were young. It was educational and felt good and saved lots of money at a time when there didn’t seem to be enough and also took a whole lot of energy when I hardly had any to spare.  I have toted my canner and all my jars with me in all my moves since I left Texas in 1983.  There has been a bit of putting by that has happened along the way, but not like back then.  Yet I have not been able to let these things go.

And Saturday, when I wanted to put up some pumpkin for pies, and make some piccalilli for The Guy, I didn’t have to do anything but…unpack those boxes.  Oh. MY.  I have about 12 or 14 dozen quart jars and maybe 2 dozen pints, along with a dozen jelly jars.  I found plenty of rings, and enough flats to do Saturday’s work.

I could not find my mother’s food grinder.  For the life of me, I cannot place where I have put it (and I don’t believe I would have gotten rid of it). Therefore, I was reduced to cutting and chopping all the vegetables for the piccalilli, which worked pretty well.  The pumpkin I split and baked, then put through Mom’s fruit and vegetable press (another hi-tech item that I have carried with me forevah…).  According to the USDA guidelines, it is no longer considered safe to can pumpkin puree, so after smooshing it through the press, I filled two pint jars, sealed them, let them cool, and stuck them in the freezer.

Very easy, and makes me want to do more!  But really, how many pints of pumpkin do I need per year?

I added the seasonings and spices to the piccalilli and started it cooking.  When The Guy came in from riding the motorcycle, he said it smelled like piccalilli, so I felt I might be on the right track.  Not ever having had piccalilli, though, I was sort of operating in unknown territory.  Forging ahead, I finished following the recipe and filled the jars.

There is a time in canning that the seals take, and the lids ‘pop’. When I hear that distinctive pop,  I know I have done something right.  That gives me a buzz, and when those ‘pops’ started on Saturday, I was suddenly taken back to those summer days in Texas, when my mom was visiting my family, helping with the girls, and showing me what she remembered about stocking up.

Except she never showed me piccalilli.

When The Guy came back from washing the motorcycle, he was surprised the finished result was pink.  Well, I had red cabbage on hand, and that makes everything pink!  Also, apparently Grandma used corn in hers, but other than that, mine tastes like piccalilli.

Colorful results of the day’s efforts.

Political Discourse

I am as tired of being hit over the head with the Constitution by Tea Partiers, as I was being whacked with the King James Version of the Bible by those conservatives in religious circles I have passed through in my life.

I read this earlier this week in Newsweek, in an article titled ‘America’s Holy Writ  (How Teapartier’s Got It Wrong)’.

“‘When Barack Obama took office, experts rushed to declare an end to the old battles over race, religion, and reproductive rights—whether because of Obama’s alleged healing powers, or the Great Recession, or both. But these analyses ignored an important reality: at heart, the culture wars were really never about anything as specific as abortion or gay marriage. Instead, as James Davison Hunter wrote in Culture Wars, the book that popularized the term, the conflicts of the 1990s represented something bigger: “a struggle over…who we have been...who we are now, and...who we, as a nation, will aspire” to be. Such conflicts, Hunter explained, pit “orthodox” Americans, who like the way things were, against their more “progressive” peers, who are comfortable with the way things are becoming.

For the forces of orthodoxy, the election of a black, urban, liberal Democrat with a Muslim name wasn’t a panacea at all; it was a provocation. So when the recession hit, and new economic anxieties displaced the lingering social concerns of the Clinton era, political fundamentalists sought refuge in a more relevant scripture—one that could still be made to accommodate the simpler, surer past they longed for but happened to dwell on taxes and government instead of sinning and being saved.’” [emphasis mine]

I have come to believe it’s not about the Constitution (or the Bible), because I see now, as I saw then, a certain ‘cherry picking’ going on.

Those that heaved out their Bibles to denounce women in leadership (then, and perhaps the acceptance of gays now) kindly looked over those scriptures addressing slavery, cutting of hair, and certain laws regarding how ownership of property is handled.  Also, the obligatory tithe off the top of one’s income to one’s house of worship is almost always skipped over.  Not always, but very, very often.  I know.  I was once the wife of a minister.

And now, in likewise fashion, I am being beaten about the head and shoulders by those who do not like what has happened in the past two years in Washington.  It is said that the actions of our elected leaders is not what the Founding Fathers intended, and indeed, is unconstitutional.  We need a return to the basics of that revered document.

Make no mistake.  I revere the Constitution, and believe that Adams and Madison and Jefferson and Franklin were amazing, intelligent, and visionary individuals that pulled off an incredible feat in forming this embryonic nation with farsightedness and intellectualism that humbles me.

And by necessity, I believe we have built on that document.  Less than 150 years ago, we had to spell out that slavery was against the laws of this country (Amendment 13).  And only 140 years ago, it was noted that race was not to be used as a bar to voting (Amendment 15).

It was only 90 years ago this document was changed to give women the right to vote (Amendment 19).   And less than 50 years ago, this document spelled out a law against poll taxes, leveling the playing field for ‘less than wealthy’ voters (Amendment 24).

All of these events moved this country out of a comfort zone and closer to what we aspire to be.  All of these events were met with calls of derision by those who took the change uneasily, or just plain felt the change. Mostly people don’t like change.  I sure didn’t, when the X took his leave.  My whole apple cart was upset.  I understand this reticence.

But my little recitation here begs a question.  If we are going to hearken back to the Constitution, as our founding fathers envisioned it, are we talking just going back a couple years?  I might suggest some constitutionality issues the Bush administration had with search and seizure (Amendment 4) and right to a speedy trial (Amendment 6). Those don’t seem to get much press these days.

Do the Tea Partiers wish to take the Constitution back beyond Civil Rights?  Perhaps take back my right to vote and to own property?

Or perhaps like Clarence Thomas (and we are not even going to go there, my friends…especially today…).  From the same article as I quoted above, ‘Thomas sympathizes with a radical version of originalism known as the Constitution in Exile. In his view, the Supreme Court of the 1930s unwisely discarded the 19th-century’s strict judicial limits on Federal power, and the only way to resurrect the “original” Constitution—and regain our unalienable rights—is by rolling back the welfare state, repealing regulations, and perhaps even putting an end to progressive taxation….As Cass Sunstein, a centrist legal scholar at the University of Chicago who now serves in the Obama administration, has explained, “many decisions of the Federal Communications Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and possibly the National Labor Relations Board would be [ruled] unconstitutional” if Thomas got his way. Social Security could be eliminated. Same goes for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve. Individual states might be allowed to establish official religions. Even minimum-wage and maximum-hour laws would be jeopardized. [emphasis mine]

I am betting Tea Partiers do not wish to hearken back to a pre-social security, pre-medicare constitution.  Which is another thing…

Those that have their government provided healthcare all tied up in a nice tidy package, paid for by taxes, cannot seem to see how that is government run healthcare.  And those that are screaming about how health insurance premiums are going up this year, are not relating to the fact that the rise in health insurance premiums have effectively taken away all raises, and eaten away at our standard of living for the past decade and a half.

I think I have now completed my political discourse, inadequate as it may be.  I am a chemist, not a political scientist.  However...

Separation of church and state?  Amendment 1, people.

Unfortunate Side of Organization

There is a down side to having an organized space.  With a place for everything and everything in it’s place?

I can see exactly where I have room for something else.

D-oh!

I know exactly what I have, what I don’t have, and thereby, what else I think I need.

Okay…want…

I start to think in terms of ‘this is really great, but you know what would make it even better…’

That’s the crack talking, and it won’t stop.  Ever.

So I back off, talk myself down, look at what I have, and see that my craft room is good.  It’s very good. 

It’s a room, for pete’s sake.

That having almost every back issue of Interweave Knits (except for 4) is adequate.  More than adequate, actually.  Just one example, by the way. (edit: I think I have found 3 of those four back issues on Ravelry from someone who is de-stashing some mags...)

And I have plenty of yarn and fiber to keep me knitting and spinning and dyeing until the cows…or maybe sheep...come home.  Plenty.

Which, however, will not keep me from purchasing a bargain when one appears.  I am nothing if not honest with myself.

Nor will it keep from making a purchasing of something extra-ordinary.  Like this:

Stansborough Grey. “Stansborough Farm, in the Wairarapa district, NZ, has the only flock of Stansborough sheep in the world making this fiber truly a unique find. Stansborough Grey wool was woven to make the famous costumes for Lord of The Rings and Narnia movies.” 

And being the complete LOTR dork that I am…I will say no more.